Best Bath Houses & Pools in Budapest, Hungary (V)

Best Bath Houses & Pools in Budapest, Hungary: Szechenyi Bath House – In hot water in City Park

The Széchenyi, located in City Park, is Budapest’s most popular bath house, and rightly so. Completed in 1878, it was the first bath house to be built in Pest, and the Neo-Baroque building is one of Europe’s largest spa complexes. The outdoor half-moon-shaped pool is the iconic image of Budapest, which has graced the cover of many a guidebook. With the old men playing chess on boards propped up in the water, the heavy steam rising from the green-tinted water (which is especially lovely when snow is falling and wind is blowing), and the kissing couples scattered throughout the pool, this is the bath house to visit if you only have time to do one.

In addition to the thermal outdoor pool, there’s also an outdoor lap pool and an “adventure pool” (which has currents pushing swimmers around in a circle). No matter how hard it is drag yourself away, head inside for seven more pools of varying sizes and temperatures, and six steam baths and saunas, some of which are scented and some which also combine light therapy. The atmosphere is grand, the rooms are cavernous, and the water is calming.

Best Bath Houses & Pools in Budapest, Hungary: Szechenyi Bath House – In hot water in City Park

The thermal water that fills the Széchenyi’s pools (which is high in calcium, magnesium, and hydro-carbonate) comes from a depth of more than one kilometer below the ground, and it is an astounding 170°F/77°C before it reaches the surface. Adjacent to the bath house is the drinking hall which serves mugs of the warm medicinal water for drinking.

Navigation: Buy your tickets either inside of the main entrance (which is across from the Circus) or the side entrance. You’ll get a plastic watch, which you swipe on the turnstiles to enter. There are changing rooms for women and men, which have lockers to store your belongings. Alternatively, there are private cabins.

Best Bath Houses & Pools in Budapest, Hungary: Szechenyi Bath House – How to get there